Mega Man X: Command Mission Part #27 - Update XXVII - What?! You mean I could be even stronger?!

Part 27: Update XXVII - What?! You mean I could be even stronger?!

Update XXVII - What?! You mean I could be even stronger?!

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

Last time, Botos took one hit and ran away.

The bottom of the missle marks the halfway point of the dungeon. Each corner has a blue crystal, holding a Gain Hyper, 1000FME, a token, and 3000z.

The other side looks a bit familiar, don't you think? The crystal holds a Build Speed.

For the second half, we have the first half of the silo, but going up instead of down. You can just feel the budget/time constraints from here.

Music: Irregular Battle II

At the very least, this side has a few new enemies.

The Bladey here has an interesting strategy. It can SOS until four Bladeys are in the fight, and the offensive move it uses changes based on how many are on the field. Just one will always use SOS, two will use Air Slicer to attack the party, three will use Shield Peeler to debuff people, and four will use Death Gravity, which doesn't care about debuffs at all. :v:

Of course, they're all so weak a single Charge Shot can take care of them all long before they can hit four, so it doesn't matter.

We also have some Preon recolors, including this Preon Gunner (not to be confused with the other Preon Gunner that showed up in Chapter 4) that added Riot and Electromagnetic Field to their kits..

...The Preon Doc, which has a series of debuffing moves, and will actually attack if left alone to surprise anyone hoping for a heal like the Nurse. The 0 Effecter is a weapon for Cinnamon that nullifies enemy stat buffs...

...And the Preon Pressure, which spends their first turn winding up for a Hell Gravity to cut the entire parties LE by 50%. Dealing 1,500 damage in one hit cancels this.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

Past the first elevator, we find Botos again.

Music: I'm Borock!

And he... uses the Shadow Clone Jutsu??? :psyduck:

And bounces around the room like we're playing pinball???????? :psyduck:

Each Botos runs for a different door.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

The true Botos is between us and progress, so you have to keep track of which way the real one ran.

Just ignore the fact that this place is damn near linear, and making a mistake costs like 5 seconds to backtrack.

This is the fake Botos, but I have a good reason for going after him.

But between here and there, a random encounter pushes Marino to 30, unlocking her last AT upgrade.

Mirage Dive is simply a high damage move against all enemies. Combine that with some Gain WEs plus some Generators, and you could pop Quicksilver and blitz enemies down in a blink.

Wait a minute, Botos' mouth can close!

Music: I'm Borock!

You don't know when to quit, do ya!?

The fake Botos drops Bait.

They drop Bait with a 100% chance.

If you've been unlucky with Deployments, or you don't want to grind out a 1% drop from the Wolfloids, this right here is an easy way to grab one for Axl.

The fake Botos has a decent bit of LE.

Being just a Q-Bit, the fake can't use Botos Trio. On the offensive side, all they have are normal attacks and Showtime.

Their Bit Shift is also only able to spawn a single Bigbit.

The decoy gets the normal enemy explosion on death.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

The end of this path has a Figure Token.

And a Treasure Token right next to it.

Botos used this time to flee. The crystals hold a Tank Energy 50 and a Build Power.

And now, another elevator.

He's consistant, at least!

He splits.

He spins.

He runs.

Botos is always on the real path. The crystals hold a Cryogenic and 2000z, and there's a token to the side.

Music: I'm Borock!

You don't know when to quit, do ya!?

H-he's fast! :eyepop:

Oh wait, that's just so he can flee.

Leaving just two Q-Bits behind.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

Chasing off the real Botos made the fake despawn, freeing up this item.

A save point by the elevator means we have to be nearing the end.

You can see Botos' hand off to the side.

No more clones, now he's just running.

Except these two doors locked, stopping the chase cold! :argh:

The crystals hold a Gain Hyper and a Tank Energy 100, which could only mean one thing.

Let's get some payback, shall we?

Video: Battle with Ferham
Music: Mysterious Enemy

You don't know when to give up, do you?

You!

Oh great...!

"Hey guys, what sort of personality should we give Ferham?"

"What's her weapon again?

"A beam whip."

"Dominatrix, easy."

-the writers, probably.

Music: Executive Battle

Don't be shy. Step right up!

Ferham tends to open with Crimson Shade, which gives her an afterimage like Zero's Heat Haze, giving two added hits on all her physicals. Dealing 1,800 damage in one hit cancels it.

Hey...

It is kinda neat to see a trick we've had since the very start of the game get turned against us.

That felt good!

Bloody Snake is the standard party attack.

You won't get away!

While Sonic Blizzard does the same thing, but can also Freeze.

Hilariously, Crimson Shade is counterproductive to this, as while each hit can Freeze, only the final hit matters, as having it proc on the first or second hit will have the next hit instantly break it.

Beyond that, she has Giga and Tera Blizzard.

...she's actually kinda low effort, now that I think about it. Even her 'special move' gets no fancy camera angles, and the animation itself is damn near identical to Jentra's normal attack!

A backflip, a rush, and another backflip on the way back, the only new thing is the little flap beforehand!

At the very least, she has a Build Hyper in her steal list.

...and a Heat Haze as a drop? We already have three of the bastards, and Zero can only use two! They aren't even used in any FMG recipes or anything!

Anyways, Marino comes out to nab the Build Hyper.

You should know the drill by this point.

A one.

A two.

And a three.

You're really something else...

Music: Boss Victory Jingle + Trajectory of Battle II

Cinnamon hit level 30 off of this fight.

Gain WE +10 needs level 30 to make. :getin:

Music: Grief - Sympathy - Pity - Pain I

Ferham dramatically falls off the platform, despite being on solid ground at the end of the fight.

She's one of the Cadres!

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

In a shocking twist, we actually have a bit of gameplay after beating the chapter boss!

Of course, by 'gameplay' I actually mean a whole heap of backtracking. All the way down to the bottom of the missile.

So let's do something a bit more interesting.

I pull all my Gain WE +5s and make as many +10s as I could.

I also made an End to All, which makes all attacks unable to kill.

The FS Canceller is another FMG exclusive FM, which leaves the user completely unable to start a Final Strike. Keep in mind that you can cancel a Final Strike with a single press of the B button, making it entirely useless.

The End to All is pretty much the only reliable way to get a four target Final Strike going.

As well as a Caution to reduce the encounter rate if I have to go to an old dungeon. The Attractor used as an ingredient increases encounter rate, and is made from 9 Boost Speeds.

In case you're wondering if you've been missing any behind-the-scenes FMG use, not really! The FMG in general feels sorta half baked considering the majority of what you can make you can just buy for far less hassle.

Look at him, he now gets 45 WE every turn before any boosters. It is a beautiful thing. :allears:

Well, let's get this over with.

Video: Botos and Ferham
Music: Mysterious Enemy

Looks like Botos snuck down while we were fighting Ferham.

Botos! Listen here... Don’t be so quick to write me off.

Actually Ferham, the fact is... The Commander made an emergency call. He wants us to gather up the Supra-Force Metal and retreat back to the base.

Retreat?!

Epsilon wants to be sure they don't get their hands on the metal. So, Ferham... I'll need your key now.

Wait a minute, the warhead key... is built into my body. I can't just hand it over! You need to get Scarface’s permission...

And Botos shows his true colors.

Give it to me!

Some unpleasant crunching noises later, and Ferham is missing that green gem in her torso.

If I had a nickel for every time someone had a special key installed into their chest and got it forcibly torn out, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

After all that, we still have to backtrack.

So let's skip to the end.

Video: X and Ferham
Music: Resistance Line

Curse you, X!

You can't fight anymore. Now, give us the warhead key.

The key! Botos...

Are you serious? You mean Botos attacked his own teammate and ripped the key from her body?

That’s what it looks like.

Okay, let's find him. She can’t fight like this anyway. We should concentrate on Botos.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

Ferham will proceed to fall into a plot hole after this, and will make no appearances for the rest of this chapter and all of the next.

After backtracking all the way back down, we now have to backtrack all the way back up.

While we're on our way up, I want to talk about Botos.

Namely, that he played all of us for fools. He dropped the Supra-Force Metal after his boss fight, which gave the Resistance the lead they needed to focus on the Ore Plant, which got X and the party to come here and fight Ferham, which gives him the chance to steal her key, which gives him access to the Supra-Force Metal warhead, as he needed a second key to go with his own. His constant blabbing about the Rebellion's plans? Gives X enough intel so that he knows this can't be ignored. His Shadow Clone and run away scheme? That was to draw us further into the base (ignoring the fact that the place is, again, damn near linear).

Botos managed to trick everyone into giving him the warhead, which no doubt holds a metric fuckton more Supra-Force Metal than that tiny scrap he 'lost' to us at Vanallia.

The best part is, this is pretty much the only time the game doesn't hammer you over the head with foreshadowing long before it happens. Massimo comments on Botos being strangely easy after his boss fight, but beyond that he goes completely ignored as comic relief.

Kudos to you, Botos, you had a plan and pulled it off without anyone catching on.

Video: Fated for Betrayal
Music: The Rebellion's Ambition

If you're wondering how he's been able to go from here, down to ground floor, then back up here far faster than X, keep in mind that he can fly. He ran up here, locked the door behind him to force X to fight Ferham, then flew down to grab her key as soon as X beat her and left the room.

I’ll be more powerful than Epsilon himself!

Everything is for some dumb ”ideal”!

And as another nail in the Rebellion's coffin, even Botos, one of the highest ranking officers it has, doesn't give a shit about it and only joined up for a power boost.